It's Tuesday, January the fourth. 4 PM in Fort Collins, Colorado.
Hudson stepped out the restroom and walked into the main section of his store. As usual he paused to appreciate his collection of guns. Everything from handguns to rifles, shotguns and even a couple carbines. Today Lee was behind the counter. Lee was a good man and Hudson knew he could trust him to lock up the store well.
"Lee I think I'm going home a little early today", Hudson said running his hand through his short, sun kissed brown hair.
"Whatever you say boss", Lee replied, "It's only two more hours. I'll lock up good".
"I know you will", Hudson said. "I'm going to check the back". Lee simply nodded. Hudson walked to the back room and entered. The small storage area held mostly junk but it was the small door in the back corner that he walked straight to. He tested the door's three locks. They were all locked tight. Good. He hadn't opened the door in a while. It wasn't very often you got a "special" customer.
Hudson came out into the main part of the store and waved goodbye to Lee, who raised a hand in return as he continued to watch TV. Hudson walked out the door. Behind him he could hear the news channel on the small TV they kept behind the counter. Lee always watched the news when he worked. As usual it sounded like the media was hyping up another disaster.
Hudson walked to the side walk and stood by the bus stop. He lived nearby in Old Town West so it was much cheaper to ride the bus. A lady standing next to him turned to him and immediately winced as she saw the scar, the old wound he had received from a mishap in his military days. Hudson ignored her, he was used to it by now. In the distance sirens began wailing like mad. Hudson ignored that too as he got on the bus. That was a normal sound in Fort Collins.
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Lily stalked out the FCPD Central Headquarters fuming. In protective custody her ass! She took down the mother fucker once, by God she could do it again. Her memory recalled the words her former Director spoke to her only several minutes ago.
"It's different now", Director Ragean said. "He's different. Your incident with him has done to things to his mind".
Lily sighed heavily. He was talking about the man named Gerald. A serial killer Lily had tracked for months and had several run in's with. Their final confrontation had ended with Gerald falling into a fire. The man now completely covered himself with bandages and called himself Doleo, which she discovered was Latin for pain. Doleo apparently spent much time talking to himself about how he would fill her with as much pain as she filled him and then more.
Doleo had also just escaped from the Federal Bureau of Prisons in Denver.
Lily raised a brow. "You didn't call me here to just tell me Gerald escaped".
"I want people around you", Director Ragean said. "To protect you. I owe your father that much".
Lily shook her head to erase the thoughts of the aftermath. They had argued hard over bodyguards for her. In the end she had simply stormed out. She was scared no doubt, but she wouldn't let fear over come her. She would see this to the end, and put an end to "Doleo" once and for all.
The bus came to a stop and she stepped aboard to go back to her apartment. She took a seat near the back where the only other passenger was a man with piercing green eyes and scars on his face.
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"My baby! Oh my Sarah, my baby"! An anguish filled voice screamed. A woman of thirty. She would have been pretty if terror wasn't filling her face at the moment. "She's still in our rooms! Oh God no no", the woman cried piteously.
"I'm going back in", Chuck yelled to his partner as he heaved the woman into Dave's hands.
"You can't do that! It's Hell in there Chuck"! His partner Dave yelled back as he caught the woman and held her.
Nevertheless Chuck turned and ran back into the burning house, Dave's cries fading behind him. Today had been incredible. 5 fires in under 6 hours, the busiest the fire station had ever been, ever. And Chuck had been there for half of them, luckily he was in great shape.This one, an apartment building, by far was the worst. What was going on today? It seemed like the entire city was alive with sirens and screams.
Chuck ran through flames in his heat resistance suit and up a flight of stairs. As he rounded the corner he ran into some nearby rooms, fire blazing all around him. "Sarah"! He yelled. "Sarah where are you"! Suddenly part of the roof began collapsing onto him. He fell to the ground nearby as wooden planks struck his head and shoulders. The place was coming down. Wood flew in all directions as Chuck lunged to his feet with a roar. "SARAH"! He couldn't leave her behind. He didn't leave his brother those many years ago, and he would never leave anyone if he could help it.
Suddenly he heard the sound of crying from one of the rooms. "Help me", a strangled voice barely made out. Chuck ran towards the door and opened it. Normally a handle would have roasted his hand but thanks to his suit he was okay. He opened the door to see the little girl Sarah lying on the ground. At the sight of his suit she kicked away from him. "It's okay, I'm a fireman", Chuck said and scooped her up.
Outside Dave watched the building collapse as the mother cried in the father's arms. "Chuck", Dave whispered. Suddenly a figure appeared in the flames. Dave's eyes widened.
Chuck burst through the flames, huddling over and bundling something in his arms. He reached the mother and opened his arms to reveal the small girl. "Sarah", the mother cried out. Chuck took off his helmet and smiled at Dave as Dave smiled back.
"Good job hero", Dave said as the mother took the child and held her close, tears streaming down her face as she looked at Chuck.
"Thank you so much", she cried.
"My pleasure ma'am", Chuck said.
Suddenly Harold, one of the other firefighters was amongst them. "We gotta move guys", he said, his face serious as a heart attack, "A bus just crashed two blocks down, the engine is on fire and EMT's are tied up on the road right now. For some reason the city is pandemonium. I think it's a riot or something".
Dave and Chuck nodded and shot off into the fire engine's cab.
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Lily's eyes fluttered. "Get up", a voice yelled, sounding as if it were so far away. What had happened? The last thing she remembered was being on the bus. Someone on the bus had kept coughing ahead of her very violently. Very violently. In fact he, it was a man she saw began retching into the middle of the aisle. The young girl across from him was severely grossed out by this. The soldier next to her, at least she profiled him so, he seemed to have been a soldier at one time by his bearing only looked out the window as if he didn't hear...or care. Then the retcher had begun seizing very hard. Luckily there was a hospital nearby so the bus driver had begun driving that way.
Except they had never made it there. The seizing fellow suddenly stood up. Then much to her horror the man began attacking the girl on the other side of him. Lily swore he was biting her. She drew her side arm but the man next to her stood up before her.
Hudson shot to his feet and reached for his side arm. Only...it wasn't there. Old habits die hard. "Shit", he cursed. The girl next to him was standing as well. He turned to see her holding a revolver. A Colt 357 if his memory served him correctly.
"Stop or I'll shoot", the woman cried out. However the obviously mentally deranged man kept mauling the young lady. "I said stop"! The gun toting girl yelled as she fired out. The bullet took the man in the neck and he flew in between the aisles. The bus swerved drastically as the bus driver was no doubt shitting himself at this point. Hudson turned to the girl, who was breathing hard but otherwise seemed composed. Maybe it wasn't her first time shooting at people. Hudson turned back to see the girl now seizing in her chair. "Damn it", he roared to the bus driver who had been about to stop, "Keep going we need medical help"! The bus driver picked up speed again.
And then the man who had been shot in the neck stood up.
"Impossible", Lily whispered as the man turned to look her in the eyes. His eyes were blood red and the blood pouring down his neck seemed to be beyond him. He had to be on drugs. And insane. What kind of man savagely bit people? Lily lifted her gun. "Don't move or I'll fire again".
Suddenly the girl who was bitten stood up. She began attacking people too. Was this some kind of human rabies? At some point someone jumped onto the bus driver and the bus swerved and flipped. That's when things got black.
Lily's eyes fluttered again. The world was blurry but it was coming into focus now. "Get up", a voice yelled. She opened her eyes fully to see the man who had been sitting next to her. He reached down and grabbed her by the arm and practically jerked her off the ground. "We gotta move now"! He screamed. Lily looked around confusedly as the sound of sirens and screaming now filled her ears. She still felt light headed.
Chuck jumped out the cab of the fire truck in his heat suit, leaving his helmet inside, and began sprinting towards the wreckage of the bus. Beside him on the side walk, running the opposite way was a man in a suit. Someone else was running behind him the same way...or at least Chuck thought he was running
with him and not after him. Chuck was too busy to notice the blood dripping down the second man's chin and throat however. Chuck reached the bus wreckage to see a man helping a woman to her feet. "Are you okay"? Chuck yelled.
The man nodded as he held the girl up under her shoulder and began limping towards a building. A bar. He was headed to the bar? "Where are you going? You need medical attention"! Chuck yelled as he followed after him.
Hudson sighed heavily as he dragged the girl with him. And now this firefighter following him was obviously blind. "Shut the fuck up and follow
me"! Hudson yelled as he pushed open the door into the bar. Chuck followed him inside, also confused now as Hudson began barring the door with chairs and tables.
"Now just what the hell are you doing"? Chuck asked. Dave was probably wondering what the hell
he was doing.
Hudson didn't even turn around. "Pull down the blinds. But first take a look outside".
Chuck walked over to the window, curious now and looked out. What he saw was pure insanity. People were getting out of the wreckage of the bus, injured to the point to where they should obviously be dead. Chuck saw one man shambling around, his guts hanging and dragging on the asphalt. One girl walked near him as if in some type of daze. Half of her ribs were exposed. Another man was missing his lower jaw but that did not stop him from trying to eat another woman alive who began screaming as she awoke to being attacked. As soon as she screamed other people in the area suddenly jerked their heads and ran towards the source of the noise to pounce upon her.
Chuck also saw nearby the bar his partner Dave. Dave was lying on the ground surrounded by men kneeling over him. Behind them the fire truck stood. Chuck's axe hanging on the side. Behind him, above the bar Chuck could faintly hear a TV, a news station murmuring about a crisis in Fort Collins.
"What is happening"? Chuck said, pulling down the blind.
Lily looked around and noticed that she was being blocked inside of the bar with two strange men. She instinctively reached for her gun but it wasn't in the holster. She stood up and as she did the others turned to her. Both of them looked very pale.
[spoiler]And this lady and gentlemen is where I leave you to begin exploring your new fun filled world. First describe your character to the other characters and then do as your character would do. Your decisions will decide your course now. And in time you'll discover the goal of the game. [/spoiler]
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For Hudson's eyes only> [spoiler]You have Lily's gun in your possession[/spoiler]
